By UN Journal Lee Kap-soo

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik invited 18 Latin American ambassadors to the National Assembly's Sarangjae building for a luncheon meeting to discuss the current political situation after the emergency martial law and Korea-Latin America relations on Feb. 12.

“Although Korea and Latin America are geographically far apart, we have overcome adversity together through the support of Latin American countries for the Korean War in 1950, and have become partners in opening up the future in cutting-edge fields such as aerospace, hydrogen, and defense,” said Speaker Woo.

“I hope that we will continue to develop a substantial, reciprocal, and future-oriented relationship as we have built a strong partnership by overcoming various challenges together.”

Speaker Woo said, “I would like to express my gratitude to the countries of Latin America for their unwavering faith and comfort during the national crisis of martial law and the airliner disaster,” adding, “As the head of the National Assembly, I am doing my best to fulfill the will of the people for the restoration of democracy, national stability, and restoration of people's livelihoods, and I hope that the international community and the countries of Latin America will know that Korea is safe.”

“I am confident that our people will overcome this crisis with the strong DNA that has overcome numerous national difficulties such as colonization, war, division, dictatorship, and foreign exchange crisis,” he said, “and I call on each country to actively support and cooperate to ensure the successful hosting of the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju later this year.”

The meeting was attended by Ambassador Federico Cuello Camilo of the Dominican Republic (Head of the Diplomatic Corps of Latin America in Korea), Ambassador Mathias Francke of Chile, Ambassador Pablo Ernesto Scheiner Correa of Uruguay, and others.